Afghanistan

Afghanistan is Islamic republic in Central Asia with a population of 32,000,000 people. The country was ruled by various kingdoms until 1973, when the Saur Revolution toppled the Kingdom of Afghanistan and led to a democratic government taking power. This government was overthrown by communists, and from 1978 to 1989, the Soviet Union sent troops to help the communist government in crushing the Mujahideen rebels in the Soviet-Afghan War; the United States-backed rebels ultimately emerged victorious over the Soviets and toppled the government in 1992.

Despite the fall of the communist government and the execution of Mohammad Najibullah, the country's Mujahideen warlords fell out with each other, and the Northern Alliance of Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras, and other minority groups fought against the Pashtun-dominated Taliban in the Afghan Civil War, which led to the rise of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996, ruled by the Taliban. Under Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban government gave sanctuary to Islamist terrorist groups in Central Asia, with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Jemaah Islamiyah being trained at al-Qaeda training camps in the country. Following the 9/11 attacks on 11 September 2001, the Taliban government refused to hand over Osama and dismantle the al-Qaeda training camps, so the United States invaded the country to forcibly destroy the al-Qaeda camps and capture Osama and his lieutenants. The US installed a Northern Alliance-led government under Hamid Karzai and the new government of Afghanistan formed the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police to fight against the Taliban insurgency. The Americans and Afghans had to deal with the growing insurgency of the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other Islamist militants in the Afghanistan War of 2001-2014, and the US withdrew from the country in 2014, although the Resolute Support Mission was left behind to help the government in training its forces to fight the militants in the following years. In 2015-2016, the Taliban and Islamic State made dangerous gains, but the USA gave air support to the Afghans to assist them in reclaiming some lost cities.

In 2015, the population was over 32,000,000 people, with 42% being Pashtuns, 27% Tajiks, 8% Hazaras, 9% Uzbeks, 4% Aimaqs, 3% Turkmen, 2% Balochs, and 4% others (Nuristanis, Pamiris, Arabs, etc.). 50% spoke Dari (Persian), 35% Pashto, 11% Uzbek and Turkmen, and 4% 30 other languages (including Arabic). 90% are Sunni Muslim, 9% Shia Muslim, and 1% other, including Zoroastrian and Zunist (Christianity, Judaism, and atheism are almost nonexistent).